


Sharing the Bed

by pheonickx



Category: Running Man RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 11:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3689784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pheonickx/pseuds/pheonickx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Then as if fate was taunting them the motel was completely booked , the only one available being a single room with one bed. A flabbergasted Jong Kook tried to ignore the man at the front desk who gave them a knowing wink as he handed Ji Hyo their keys."</p><p>An AU, in which the RM are ordinary members of society.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sharing the Bed

The two had been on their way back from a business conference, as representatives of the R Group Company when Jong Kook’s car broke down. A dejected Jong Kook with nerves worn thin by some uncooperative attendees earlier had angrily banged the steering wheel, his eyes widening in horror as the fuel meter that had previously hovered around the halfway mark dropped sharply to zero.

It was unfortunate that this particular conference had been held in some building in the mountains because they were now stranded in the middle of nowhere, and this late at night there definitely was not going to be any cars showing up soon, not since few others that had left early.

Ji Hyo almost wished they had stayed for the after party instead of joining the early crowd but Jong Kook had insisted, and here they were. Thankfully her driver had remembered passing by a motel a couple minutes ago, and they dragged their bodies and few belongings out of the car and uphill, too exhausted for much words.

 

Then as if fate was taunting them the motel was completely booked (how that was possible when the place was literally situated in the middle of nowhere, she didn’t know), the only one available being a single room with one bed. A flabbergasted Jong Kook tried to ignore the man at the front desk who gave them a knowing wink as he handed Ji Hyo their keys.

 

True to his word, the room contains only one twin-sized bed and a drawer on each side, a small closet and a door she assumed lead to the bathroom. Despite the bare furnishings, to a sleepy Ji Hyo the room was the picture of perfection.  A definite improvement over sleeping in Jong Kook’s sedan anyhow, and in any case they could ask the motel owner tomorrow if he was willing to let them borrow his car.

 

 

"I could sleep on the floor," Jong Kook offers.

 

"Don’t be ridiculous, oppa. You’re pretty good at hiding it, but I know your back has been acting up these days. The floor is going only to make it worse.”

 

“It’s fine, I’ll just roll out a blanket or two and manage.”

 

Ji Hyo glares at him until Jong Kook gives in with a “Yes ma’m” and a resigned smile.

 

"So if my back was fine you would make me sleep on the floor?"

 

She laughed. "Maybe. Now hurry up and take the bed before I change my mind,” she said, even though they both knew she wasn’t going to. She tosses her cardigan and socks and dumps them unceremoniously at the foot of the bed next to her bag, as Jong Kook moves his own bag to the other side.

 

“Here, go wash up first.” He throws her a towel and then proceeds to hang up his jacket and change into his more comfortable shirt and pants.

  


She enjoys the way the warm water feels on her skin as she washes her face mindlessly going through the actions: soap, cleanse, lather,  wash again, dry. She steps out of the bathroom towel in hand once she finishes brushing her hair as well in a few quick strokes.

 

“Bathroom’s open.”

 

He turns to her but doesn’t make a move to get up, and Ji Hyo stares at him questioningly.

 

"Ji Hyo-ya,” he begins. “I checked, and there aren’t any extra blankets here.”

 

She mutters a curse under her breath, then again what else did she expect from a third rate motel in the mountains?

Ji Hyo could feel the wave of exhaustion that was washing back over her and there was no way the lack of extra bedding was going to keep her from sleeping.

 

She sucks in a breath and asks nonchalantly, "Can we share the bed then?"

 

He blinks once, twice - then sputters slightly "I.. "

 

She raises her eyebrows. "...Do you want me to sleep on the floor still? I did say I would but I thought-"

 

"No of course not, that's not-" He runs a hand through his hair. "How are you taking this so casually? You don't mind sleeping together in the same bed...with me? You’re okay with this?”

 

She nods.

 

“Why?”

 

She glances at him as if to say, _you’re seriously asking me this?_

 

"Well first, we don't have much of a choice here. There's no other rooms and there isn’t another hotel we can walk to within the hour either given circumstances that are out of our control, and second, this is you that we're talking about. I trust you. And third-"

 

She pauses because Jong Kook is looking at her with the oddest expression on his face and she wonders if it is too much to ask from the her friend,  when he suddenly murmurs, "The bed's pretty small you know..." If she didn't know better any better Ji Hyo would say he looked scared. Of what, her?

 

At that point she closes the distance between them in a single stride, not missing the way those eyes were staring intently at her, and whispers, "Look at me, oppa. It's just me.”

 

She squeezes his arm, in what she hopes is a reassuring way.

 

“It's only me."

 

His breath hitches at that, something gives inside him and the tension eases from his broad shoulders. His eyes flutter lazily. “Okay.” It’s barely above a whisper. Then more surely with his usual smile, “Okay. And what about the third?”

 

“Third, I’m super tired and there’s nothing that can stop me from jumping into that bed right now.”  She launches herself into the covers before he could say anything.

 

Jong Kook made a slow show of washing his face and brushing his teeth and finally he walked towards the bed ever so carefully.

 

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

 

His tone is joking in a way his eyes are not and she doesn't know whether to slap him and tell him to stop being silly, or be legitimately worried _he_ was pushing himself past his comfort zone.

But no, his genuine concern was directed towards her, from the way he held onto to her every word.

 

"Please, have you even once considered me a woman in the past three years?"

 

He chuckles at that. "I guess not." And he joins her under the covers, and shifts so that his back is to her.

 

 

“Good night.”

 

“Good night, oppa.”

 

The bed is small enough that his other arm brushes against her as he reaches over to the bedside table and turns off the lights.

 

 

She isn’t quite sure of the odd silence that hangs in the air, like the night was holding its breath. She might just be imagining things, who knows. As tired as she was, her mind wandered still in that short time between tired wakefulness and slumber, this time coming back to the man sleeping beside her.

She could hear his breathing, all too aware of their knees just barely entangled together and backs to each other a breath apart.

 

There were definitely worse things that could happen. They were adults. They could share a bed definitely. They were close friends who had been to each other’s houses once or twice (though it had never been just them two) and above all else, she trusted Jong Kook.

 

It’s just she hates how the night takes away any sense to form coherent excuses especially with his proximity. Admittedly she had been attracted to him once, but that was before they fell into their easy companionship somewhere along the way, and she had quickly gotten over him, had been for a while actually- although there was really nothing to get over, for someone who was never hers in the first place.

 

 

It was all pretty silly.

 

 

She valued their friendship too much to pursue him like that anyways. She would rather they see each other for a long time, the ever present embers in a welcoming hearth than watch themselves be swept in a flame of passion and left with nothing but ashes and memories.

 

Mostly she paid it no mind because her mind didn’t know what to think about _that_ strange development, but there were still moments in time that managed to sneak past her thoughts and made her heart hum pleasantly in quickened beats.

 

 

The rare instances he could be convinced to sing in their team’s karaoke sessions, his silvery tenor ringing through the gentle clamor of their other voices-

The time she absentmindedly put her head on his shoulder on the subway with a sigh after a particularly long day at work, and he had given her reassuring squeeze and comforting words-

 

She could almost see it now, like so many grains of sand that swirled in a great hourglass of their time together.

 

 

And ah-

 

 

When last Christmas party she had been on the dance floor moving to the fast paced beat of a pop song she vaguely knew the lyrics to-

 

The music had shifted into some slow dance then, and she had ran into him somehow in her haste to avoid the small rush of couples that were pulling their dates along. Ji Hyo had grinned turning towards him, her cheeks warm with wine and song and simply glad to see another friendly face. A wistful ‘ _looks like we’re still single for another year'_ was half out of her mouth, when he held his hand out in a wordless invitation.

She distinctly remembered her heart catching in her throat at how his lips had curved in a brilliant smile, how his eyes had warmed with some unspoken promise, of what she couldn't say as their fingers intertwined and their bodies swayed with the music because she only remembered his soft laugh as they had danced and her heart about to burst as she thought breathlessly-

 

(beautiful. beautiful. _beautiful._ )

 

  
.  


Jong Kook wakes up in the middle of the night. As tired as he was, he unfortunately was the type who had a hard time falling asleep anywhere besides the comfort of his own bed. He grumbles lowly but suddenly remembers who is also sharing the bed and holds his breath praying he hadn't woken her up.

 

Who was he kidding, Ji Hyo could sleep anywhere at any time and she probably could sleep through anything short of the annoying and loud ringtone she had as an alarm, or perhaps a bomb.

 

He turns to face her- almost having a heart attack, just realizing the lack of distance between them, close enough he could make out her eyelashes in the dim moonlight.

Between watching in fascination at the stray hairs falling into her sleep and the steady rise and fall of her breathing through their shared sheets, he thinks _she’s going to wake up with a sore throat with her mouth open like that._ Not because he had been staring at her lips obviously. He moves a tentative hand to lifts her chin and stares at her for a moment more.

 

Just to be sure.

 

 

And in that typical manner of idle musings from an idle brain, half awake when all the world lay asleep, the thoughts rush out before he can stop himself, of waking up this every morning, how the scent of her would linger in _their_ covers, how if his day would start and end with her by his side there would be nothing that could faze him-

 

His mind finally catches up to his self indulging heart and reminds him (half desperately, and all too late he thinks) that he shouldn’t let his emotions go down that path of loving her because wouldn’t he much rather swallow that feeling than blurt it out in one careless moment and have her run away? She would, he knew -

_"I’d be flattered, I guess," she had mused once over their quick coffee break to a  nearby Starbucks. "but if he really meant it, I’d feel guilty not to have some distance between us after that. I’ll keep thinking ‘oh, am I leading him on?’ and thinking that every time I’m with someone would just be tiring. Tiring for me and cruel for the person, if we’re good friends.”_

 

He turns over their earlier conversation in his mind when it felt like the bottom of his stomach had fallen out as he had heard her question, almost fearing somehow she'd hear his heart frantically beating that dull aching rhythm against his chest.

 

 

_‘Look at me. It's only me.'_

And her gaze that had melted any resolve and fear and made the temptation of a bed that much more inviting, precisely because it was Ji Hyo. He adds in hindsight that it was hardly fair that this could have been avoided had she not pointed out his back injury and just let him sleep on the floor blanket or no (it was a small sacrifice he would have willingly, grudgingly made). Or he could have remembered to check his tank and-

 

_'Have you even once considered me a woman in the past three years?’_

Yes, of course he had.

Once when they first met she only had been a woman. But now, now... He couldn’t imagine returning to the people they were once, before they walked into each other’s lives, before their talks in that one hole in the wall café (coffee for her and fruit juice for him) before the laughs over shared inside jokes, before the silent conversations and nods when their eyes met.

 

 

So he waits, desperately wishes for the courage to tell her the truth she deserves, or for the feelings to fade away with time.

 

_(Because when you smile it’s like having a miniature sun shine at me, and I can’t imagine why everyone is not in love with you.)_

 

 

.

 

When morning comes she is dazed momentarily and close to panicking as to why she is in bed with a man, calming down when the memory of last night kicks in like a lagging hangover. The smell of sun dried clothes and the metallic tang of gym equipment she’s come to associate with Jong Kook wraps around her much like the two strong arms she finds herself in and she breathes once more, in and out slowly as if anymore the spell would break.

With a sigh she opts for detaching herself from the warm cocoon, carefully moving the one hand resting on her waist. A small sound like a whine escapes the older man’s lips as she does so and Ji Hyo remains sitting, amused and quietly observing for a moment.

 

It was incredibly rare, scratch that, in her year of knowing Jong Kook she had never seen him so entirely defenseless, even on their all nighters and frenzy of deadlines he was unusually functioning and if he did take naps it was in the comfort of his car, seat tilted back 130 degrees, even then with a guarded expression about him and easily aroused with a murmur of his name.

 

In his current state, he certainly looked nothing like the image he commanded amongst his co-workers: brilliant and dedicated and intimidating. In fact he looked almost cute, like an overgrown kitty cat and she doesn't know whether he would laugh or look aghast if he could hear her just then.

 

 

She hadn't even realized she leaned in too close until his soft murmur of "Ji hyo?" fell from his lips two inches away from her, rousing her from her thoughts like a plunge into cold water.

 

 

It was exactly moments like these she told herself to avoid, when Jong Kook made it so damn easy to fall in love with the way the early sun kissed his dark locks and golden skin, chest heaving slowly in deep breaths.

 

And Ji Hyo could only plead perhaps he had not noticed her, pulling back with enough force to give her whiplash because it made their friendship complicated and she was not ready to go ruin one of the better things to happen to her on the slim chance that he returned her not quite feelings.

 

She is fully prepared to laugh it off, but the joke dies in her throat at the rawness in his eyes, from the lingering half-fatigue that is slow to put walls up and the fact he was never good at lying anyways.

 

 

"Ji Hyo?" He asks again, and the unsaid why hangs in the air.

 

“I…. I don’t know.”

 

“What do you mean you don’t know? You were the one who-”

 

“I’m sorry, alright? I don’t know what came over me.” She chews on her lower lip before adding more quietly, “I didn’t do anything to you if that’s what you were wondering.”

 

“Ji Hyo-ya….”

 

She stares blankly at him, thinking of how awkward the car ride home is going to be at this rate, but she hates for Jong Kook to continue pestering her, hates herself even more for not thinking of an excuse fast enough with Jong Kook who was now absolutely sure something was up.

 

It’s why she swallows, takes a deep breath and says, “I did want to kiss you then. But...”

 

“I don’t know exactly _what_ I feel because I look at you and I’m fine with just being the way we are, but sometimes I can’t help feeling something else like… I’m in love with you. Like I want to kiss you and go on real dates and do other stupid couple things with you. But I didn’t want to lose one of my closest friends over something lame like this, so I didn’t tell you.”

 

 

She watches as something changes in his eyes, and she steels herself for Jong Kook to sputter excuses (and have her reply “this is exactly _why_ ”) or even worse, tell her than she was mistaken in her feelings like a small child, anything but the laughter that follows.

 

 

“You’re laughing?” Anger follows the flash of hurt and she’s ready to pummel him, curse him for her luck at having even an inkling of love for this man. “After everything I’ve said? Do you want to die, Kim Jong Kook?”

 

“I’m laughing because-” He blocks her fist, wincing slightly through his laughter but there is no malice in it for his eyes are entirely warm as he says, “It’s because I love you too, you know.”

 

She stops. “What?”

 

He looks shy, almost reluctant to repeat the words.

 

“I said, I love you.”

 

It takes a few seconds for the words to register in her mind. Then she collapses onto the bed, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. They both end up laughing until their sides hurt, stopping to catch their breath, and then bursting into a new wave of giggles when they meet each others eyes.

 

It seems like a long time before they finally settle down into the comforable silence of each other's company and of the lazy morning.

 

 

“You seriously want to do this?” Jong Kook began, the first to break the quiet, gesturing to her and then him. “Us?”

 

She glanced at him as he spoke, like she was seeing him again for the first time.

 

“If it’s with you, I think it’s something worth trying.” She saw the exasperated yet fond expression on his face coming even before he so much smiled. “But to begin, I hardly think asking someone out by laughing at them is traditional.”

 

He chuckles.

 

At their respective ages, the word " _asking out"_ tastes naive and juvenile on her tongue, almost making her laugh along with him as the sentence leaves her mouth.

But that is how it was, wasn’t it?

Two adults, two friends, two people, fumbling with the words and the steps to that timeless dance called love.

 

 

It certainly was not the first time taking those same steps, and it probably would not be the last, and just perhaps she can even see a future reflected in those small eyes if she squints. But for now she is content to simply be in his presence and knows he feels the same.

 

And surprisingly that is enough.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> (crossposted)  
> My first fic in a long time, and definitely a first for RM anyhow!  
> Oh, the part that JK says about JH (Because when you smile..) is from a line I found, the original goes like this: "When he smiles it's like having a torch shine right at me lighting up all the dark corners and I cannot imagine why everyone is not in love with him."
> 
> And always, reviews are appreciated!


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